The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a media/enforcement program designed to increase safety belt use. The program included a paid media campaign using advertisements on broadcast television, cable television, radio, and outdoor bulletins and posters. Concurrent with the media campaign, Michigan also implemented increased police enforcement of the safety belt use law. The study utilized an experimental region, where all media and enforcement activities took place, and a control region, in which no media or enforcement were implemented specifically as part of the program. Study measures were acquired from three waves of a direct observation survey of safety belt use, with each wave conducted concurrently in each region. The direct observation study was supplemented by a telephone-survey conducted by a NHTSA-sponsored research firm during each of the waves in each region. The direct observation survey results showed that safety belt use did not significantly increase in either region immediately after the program. The media/enforcement program did not seem to have a differential effect on safety belt use in the experimental region. One reason for this lack of effect may have been that the media/enforcement campaign had far-reaching effects in Michigan. Even though no specific program activities were scheduled to appear in the counties comprising the control region, the telephone survey revealed that people in the control region were exposed to an increase in messages and enforcement during the program period. Because of this exposure in the control region, the experimental/control study-design we utilized was compromised. Without the ability to compare safety belt use in the experimental region to use in a region without any program activities, we have no way of determining the differential effects of the program on the background of other statewide factors that influence safety belt use. (Author/publisher)
Abstract